Claiming that 269 supporters of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) have been killed in West Bengal since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, Biman Bose, the State Secretary of CPI (M) and the chairman of State Left Front Committee, on Tuesday said “those who are the aggressors of this violence are alleging that they are the victims.”
On being asked to comment on demands from leaders of the Trinamool Congress for seizure of illegal firearms from CPI(M) cadres, Mr. Bose said: “They are the ones committing the atrocities and they are claiming that they are under attack.”
Charge
Alleging that the Trinamool Congress was making false claims about the numbers of victims of political violence belonging to the party, Mr. Bose said that he could verify the circumstances under which each of the 269 CPI(M) supporters had died.
Mr. Bose also said that there were several “fake inclusions” in the ongoing exercise of updating the voters' lists ahead of the West Bengal Assembly polls in 2011.
“People are coming in trucks and lorries to get themselves registered on the lists. “There is obviously something wrong here and we shall investigate the matter,” Mr. Bose, who is also chairman of the State's Left Front Committee, said.Speaking on the situation of drought in the State, Mr. Bose said that the Left Front would organise meetings at all the affected districts, to hold discussion on the alternative crops that could be cultivated.
Declines comment
He declined to comment on the remarks made by Kshiti Goswami, a senior leader of the Revolutionary Socialist Party, on the death of Maoist leader Azad.
Despite being a constituent of the Left Front, Mr. Goswami has maintained that “a neutral enquiry needs to be conducted, as Azad's death occurred under mysterious circumstances.”
